Milwaukee Brewers centerfielder Lorenzo Cain wanted to try to play Wednesday night but realized it was in his best interest to sit out with soreness in his right rib cage area.

“They want me to be smart about it,” Cain said.

Cain said he suffered the injury over the weekend against Pittsburgh but tried to keep playing with the Brewers pushing for a playoff berth. It caused him to take some different swings to protect the area, however, which manager Craig Counsell noticed Tuesday and removed him from that game against the Cincinnati Reds after two at-bats.

Sitting out Wednesday made even more sense because the Brewers have a scheduled day off Thursday, allowing consecutive days of rest. Cain will be reassessed Friday to see if he’s able to play in the series opener of a three-game series in Pittsburgh.

“I guess when the pain and soreness is out of there, I’ll be back on the field,” Cain said. “I wanted to play but, like I said, they want me to be smart about it, so we’ll see where it’s at on Friday.”

As for missing action during the final days of the playoff race, Cain said, “It’s tough. I definitely want to be out there. I don’t want to miss a game. We had that conversation (Tuesday) night. (Counsell) said I’m not looking like myself up there right now. I kind of tailored my swing the last couple of days so I could stay on the field.

“I’ll go with their plan and be smart about it. We’ll see if the pain and soreness is out of there Friday. If it is, I’ll be out there. We’re trying not to make it worse, at this point.”

Asked about the risk of Cain’s injury worsening without sufficient time off, Counsell said, “With any kind of muscle pull, there’s a risk (in playing). Lorenzo was able to go out there but you end up protecting yourself. That almost can be worse.

“He’s so good at what he does, he can get away with it a little bit. But there’s a point where we’re risking a bigger injury. So, you’ve got to weigh that. It’s best to give him a couple of days of rest and treatment and see where we are Friday.”

The Brewers were missing another outfielder due to injury. Ryan Braun, who has battled various back and side issues throughout the season, was feeling back discomfort again and was out of the starting lineup for the third consecutive game.

“It was worse yesterday,' Counsell said. "It’s a little bit better today, but Domingo (Santana) has been swinging the bat pretty well. I think we can get over the hump with ‘Braunie’ if we can get him through today. It came up yesterday.”

It has been a tough year for Braun, in terms of both health and luck. He has hit into enough hard outs for him to fall back on analytical data, such as line-drive rate, to assure he wasn’t as bad as traditional numbers suggest (.247 batting average, .304 on-base percentage).

Nevertheless, September has been a rough one for Braun, who has a .674 OPS in 13 games, compared to his .843 mark for August. He is batting .194 (7 for 36) this month with one home run and three runs batted in. After climbing to a .308 mark on balls put in play in August, he has dropped to .222 in September.

With Cain and Braun unavailable, Counsell put Curtis Granderson in left, Santana in right and moved Christian Yelich to center, where he made his 11th start.

“Curtis has done such a nice job, he would have been in there regardless,” Counsell said. “Domingo has come up (from the minors) and had very good and consistent at-bats. So, he’ll get a shot tonight for a couple more.”

There was some good news on the injury front. Infielder Travis Shaw, who got drilled on the side of his right knee by a pitch Tuesday night and came out of that game later, was feeling good enough to return to the lineup.

Moustakas cooled off: Third baseman Mike Moustakas had a solid August after being acquired from Kansas City, compiling a .853 OPS with five homers and 19 RBI in 26 games. But he has had a rough go of it in September.

In 13 games entering Wednesday, Moustakas was batting .222 with a .271 OBP and .649 OPS, his lowest monthly figure of the season, with one homer and seven RBI. When the Brewers faced a long string of left-handed pitchers early in the month, Moustakas wasn’t playing every day and has scuffled for the most part since.

“The more at-bats you get, the more comfortable you feel,” Moustakas said. “We’re used to playing every day, so playing a game, then taking a day off is something new. But it’s a good thing at the end of the day with the amount of depth we have here.

“It’s baseball. You’re not going to go out and get a hit every day. That’s how the game goes.”